Pulling her home

[98G]

Nope, 25,999 gvw, 7,500 max allowable tow, plus a huge overhang in the rear. I would bet the first turn will jackknife it.

As a result of your post, I went and looked up the specs of the 26' uhaul.

25,999 is GVWR, meaning the max it can weigh fully loaded. Empty it weighs about half that. As you pointed out, the tow rating is less than 1/3 of what would be needed to tow an M52A2.

Even given a hypothetical tow vehicle with a tow rating of 25k the brakes on the M52A2 would need to be operational. To tow an M52A2 without its brakes helping needs a tow vehicle weighing 35k or so. Think HEMTT.

A 26' uhaul is not up to the task. It will get pushed all over the road by the truck in tow, and this presumes the hitch doesn't simply shear off by overloading it by a factor of three, and at an angle. (I don't really think the hitch will break. The tow vehicle doesn't have the traction necessary to break it. The tow vehicle will slide before the hitch breaks. The tow vehicle *will* slide, early and easily.)

Stopping distance is going to be loooooooong. And attempted stops in anything other than a straight line will push the tow vehicle sideways. This presumes dry road. Wet or icy will make it a thousand times worse.

This combination results in adequate traction for braking for about 13k, and a combined weight of around 35k.

I've ignored legalities, deliberately. It isn't legal, but that's almost irrelevant to this discussion.

A 1ton pickup truck and a heavy gooseneck trailer is a far better option than flat towing with the proposed combination. On the gooseneck, even if you go well over GCVWR, you at least have brakes and proportional traction.

Consider also that the uhaul towing the MV is going to look funny to every LEO and DOT who sees it. They're going to want to pull it over for a closer look. Once they get a close look they're going to start writing bunches of tickets.

Again, the chances of some kind of badness happening are high and the magnitude of the potential badness is off the scale.

OP, if you do it and get away with it without something bad happening please post the results....

 

[SyrionDeathvow]

Ive already moved on to a new plan. BUT for arguments sake. The weight of the M54a2 will only be on the road not on the hitch. The only forces the hitch will experience is pull and push and lateral force in turns. Still that is 19975 lbs. A mobile home tongue is designed for 20000 lbs load bearing weight. If i were to reinforce it with 1" plate steel i would build it up to withstand the load of 40000 lbs easy. I almost want to do it to show off my skills but what if im wrong, the risk to others isnt worth my welders pride. I looked into renting a dump truck and buying a military tow bar. It will be right at 1000 dollars. Simp also offered to tow it for me.

 

[98G]

Ive already moved on to a new plan. BUT for arguments sake. The weight of the M54a2 will only be on the road not on the hitch. The only forces the hitch will experience is pull and push and lateral force in turns. Still that is 19975 lbs. A mobile home tongue is designed for 20000 lbs load bearing weight. If i were to reinforce it with 1" plate steel i would build it up to withstand the load of 40000 lbs easy. I almost want to do it to show off my skills but what if im wrong, the risk to others isnt worth my welders pride. I looked into renting a dump truck and buying a military tow bar. It will be right at 1000 dollars. Simp also offered to tow it for me.

You make a point that is relevant. The weight of the truck isn't on the hitch. You still have the 20k of forward momentum from the truck being towed, but none of this is pushing down on the tow vehicle. This makes it easier for the tow vehicle to slide, as it has to deal with that forward momentum without having the corresponding increase in traction.

This is one of the ways that flat towing is substantially different than towing a trailer.

Edit - in case it isn't obvious, I like your new plan much better.

 

[simp5782]

We won't say what trucks I have moved with a towbar......

 

[Recovry4x4]

I know that you have moved on to a new plan but lets discuss this one last thing so that if this topic is searched, this comes up. The angle of the tow bar will be downward at a pretty steep angle. Any acceleration will unload weight on the back of the towing vehicle and stopping will push down unloading the front of the towing vehicle. I can step up to the back of the uhaul, I struggle to climb up to the front of a 5 ton.

 

[SyrionDeathvow]

[QUOTE="Recovry4x4, very good point, i cant do much about that except get a bigger truck.

 

[diesel583]

Just for the guys that like to do it right. A buddy has a construction company was passing a car, well below speed limit, blew a tire. The tire took out drivers window and windshield. After his insurance bought the car it still cost him $10,000. If He didn't have everything insured it would have been over $ 100'000. Big wreckers are cheap when you look at the other side, and all you have to do is watch.

 

[BEASTMASTER]

maybe u can find some const. co. with a twin screw tractor doing nothing and have him pull it home for u ? most of those trucks have air lines to the rear and could hook up a line to you're truck for brakes.